Bathinda, March 31
In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, the District Election Office today deputed 5,970 government employees on election duty distributed units of electronic voting machines (EVMs) constituency-wise.

Each polling team will consist of four members, including one presiding officer (each) and assistant presiding officer and two polling officers. For the 1,029 polling booths in the district, the 1,452 presiding officers and an equal number of assistant presiding officers have been deputed. As many as 3,066 polling staff members have been deputed in total. Of the 5,970 staff deputed on election duty, 3,238 are men and 2,732 are women.

With the election duties being allotted, government officers have started getting messages from different employees seeking exemption from it. Many officers got calls today from the staff on duty “requesting” that their names be struck off the lists.

“The lists are not prepared manually. The entire list is fed in a software that randomly picks up names assigns duties. There is no role of any officer or any other employee in designating duties,” explained an officer associated with the election work.

Meanwhile, the Election Office also distributed units of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in all the six assembly segments of Bathinda. An EVM machine comprises control unit (CU) and balloting unit (BU). The two units are joined using a five-metre cable. While the control unit is with the presiding officer or a polling officer, the balloting unit is placed inside the voting compartment. Each control unit has four balloting units attached to it.

Today, the District Election Office distributed 1,135 CUs and 1,392 BUs. As per the guidelines of Election Commission of India (ECI), these include 10 per cent CUs kept in reserve and 35 per cent BUs kept in reserve usage. Added to this, 10 EVMs each have been provided in the six constituencies for training purposes. These 60 EVMs are exclusively meant for training purposes only and will not be used for the polling day.

All EVMs have been shifted from the strong room in the district headquarters to the concerned constituency. The district election office is now left with 627 CUs and 850 BUs..

Bathinda, March 31
The district election control room is receiving complaints, including those which are not associated with the elections from anonymous sources. The control room has so far received 22 written complaints and 18 phone calls lodging different complaints regarding elections.

Of the 18 complaints received on telephone, 10 have been found to be frivolous.

Most of the complainants alleged misuse of public places for putting up political posters. In telephonic as well as written complaints, people have also been complaining against government officers alleging that they have overstayed their due tenure of three years.

People have even been lodging complaints that are not associated with elections. In one such case, a complaint was received against a cooperative bank employee accusing him of diverting from one channel to another.

“People are trying to turn even a simple complaint into an election-related complaint. In this particular complaint, letters were sent to the Election Officers, but later it was found to be a fake alarm,” said officials at the Election Office.

To reach these cells, one can contact at 01642211915 and at toll-free number 1800 180 202. Also, facsimile can be sent at 0164-5004762. 

Bathinda, March 31
Giving momentum to his election campaign, Congress-PPP joint candidate for the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat Manpreet Badal addressed a packed meeting of residents of the area across the Railway Lines.

The meeting was conducted at the residence of a senior Congress leader and former chairman of the Bathinda Improvement Trust, Jagroop Singh Gill.

He stated that even as part of the SAD-led state government, he had worked towards lessening the debt burden on the state and argued in favour of ending the VIP culture and that was why he had to lose his place in the government. He added that this time as well, he wasn’t in the fray to gain power but to work for the welfare of the people.

His son, Arjun Badal, has been actively participating in canvassing for his father this time around. Although he has studied at a prestigious school in New York yet he addressed the audience in chaste Punjabi and drew a huge round of applause as he exhorted the youngsters to exercise their right to vote since several Indians lost their lives to get the country its freedom.

He also accused the senior leaders of the SAD of threatening people into joining hands with them and were registering false cases against the PPP and Congress leaders who were standing against them. He further stated that he studies abroad but feels sad when he has to discuss the state of affairs in Punjab as the state is in wrong hands.

Bathinda: March 31
Member Parliament from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) has lost its identity after its party chief Manpreet Singh Badal decided to contest the parliamentary election on the Congress symbol-hand.

While addressing gatherings in villages of Bathinda rural assembly segment, she pointed out that the party had already put up posters outside its party headquarters in Bathinda in which the PPP chief's photograph appears along with the hand symbol of the Congress.

“PPP leader Manpreet has become so desperate that he has deserted his party symbol kite and virtually made the PPP a defunct outfit that is now dependent on the Congress,” she added.

SAD senior vice-president and former Union Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia used his oratory skills to target the Congress and Manpreet for backstabbing his mother party and Chief Minister of Punjab Prakash Singh Badal. Bathinda Rural, MLA Darshan Singh Kot Fatta also addressed the gatherings. 

Bathinda, March 31
Despite claims to announce its candidate on April 2, unrest seems to be brewing among the party workers of the Aam Admi Party (AAP) over delay in naming its candidate for the Bathinda Parliamentary Constituency.

The parties that have already fielded their candidates are also spreading the message of a secret pact of the AAP with the Congress by not contesting elections from Bathinda. The party workers, who had been campaigning since long for the AAP in and around Bathinda, too, have now raised their eyebrows over delay in party candidate’s name.

Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal today accused the AAP of having a secret pact with the Congress candidate and former Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal. The AAP spokespersons, however, claimed to announce candidate’s name soon.

It is pertinent to mention here that some of the AAP workers and leaders had spread a message on March 27 night over giving party ticket to former DGP (intelligence) Shashikant.

The former DGP arrived in Bathinda on March 28, but instead remain silent over the issue of party ticket in a press conference in the morning and claimed that it was not his cup of tea, in another meet in the evening. Sources in the party said that Shashikant, in fact, had arrived Bathinda to announce his candidature but made a complete volte-face at eleventh hour.

“This seat is the most prestigious and that’s why, there is an unprecedented delay in announcing the name for candidate here. We are constantly in touch with the senior most party leaders in Delhi who have promised to give ticket to an appropriate candidate to give a tough fight to Badal Bahu and her brother-in-law Manpreet Badal,” said AAP district general secretary Blas Chand Gupta.

Bathinda, March 31
The local police today registered a case against three persons, including an unidentified man, for killing a resident of Khokhar village. The accused have been identified as Nikka Singh and Mandar Singh, both residents of Mandi Kalan village.

In a complaint to the police, Malkit Kaur said that the accused entered the house of the victim, Kulwant Singh, and beat him up. The complainant said the accused also took away a canter that belonged to the victim who died of fatal injuries.

The police said the complainant had alleged that the accused, Nikka Singh had suspected illicit relationship with the victim’s wife.

Earlier, Kulwant’s wife had committed suicide following she was rebuked by her husband over the suspected illicit relationship.

The police said that the victim had also reportedly beaten and abused the murder accused in public few days ago.

A case under Sections 449, 302, 379 and 34 of the IPC has been registered in this connection at Balianwali police station. The police is investigating the case. 

Bathinda, March 31
Students travelling to and from the colleges, located in the city, who have long been protesting against a weak government transport system catering to the villages, suggest that increasing the buses in the fleet of the PRTC may solve the problem of the students who have to travel to their respective colleges everyday.

The students fraternity, which had been quite vocal in its protests against the private bus operators and low frequency of buses to villages on the outskirts of the city, suggest that the problem faced by students may also be settled by making it binding for the private bus operators to accept the passes, albeit only after checking the identity card of the students.

General Manager of the PRTC at the Bathinda bus stand, outside whose office the students had staged a dharna a couple of months ago, Rajendra Joshi, said, “I am aware of the problem that the students hailing from villages and areas adjoining the city face while travelling to their colleges located in the city. I agree that the PRTC fleet has a small number of buses as compared to the private buses plying on various routes but we can try and manage the timings of the PRTC buses with that of the college timings if the college managements share their time tables with us.”

Bathinda Tribune also spoke to a cross-section of students to find out what they thought could possibly end the logjam between the students and the bus operators.

The solution of the problem lies in the PRTC adding more buses to its fleet so that it can have more buses plying on the routes connecting city with the villages and the adjoining areas. One of the major problems being faced by the students is that the govt-run buses are too few and hence on some of the routes the buses not only ply once or twice a day, they don’t even match the timing of the colleges to facilitate the students in their journey to their colleges.

Sumeet Gill, a former student of Pbi University

A majority of students complain that the private bus operators don’t accept the bus passes saying that the passes are applicable only in the PRTC buses. Earlier, the situation was different as these passes were accepted not only in the PRTC buses but also in private and mini buses. The same rule should be brought back as the government should understand that students, especially those coming from villages, can’t afford to spend a lot on travel everyday.

Sarabjit Singh, a PhD student at the Punjabi University Regional Centre

The PRTC buses, like the private buses should also be allowed to halt at the bus stands, especially those located in the villages for a little longer. While the private buses can halt for as long as they want to at a bus stop, the PRTC buses can halt at a stand for only three minutes which is too small a time duration considering the frequency of PRTC buses is also very low. The transport department should also look into the matter as thousands of students of the region face the problem everyday. It should make a rule for all the government-run buses, private bus operators and mini bus operators to allow the students to travel in the buses for free provided they have the passes.

Nitin Sharma, a student of Government ITI Bathinda

The police is yet to take any action against the private bus operators in the case wherein they had beaten up a student when he refused to pay for the ticket. The conductors often snatch mobile phones of the students and manhandle them when they refuse to buy tickets. The fear of law should be rekindled in the private bus operators by handing out punishment to those who indulge in such activities.

Amarjot Sharma, former DAV College student 

Bathinda, March 31
A district-level workshop on mother and child health care was held today at the GNM Nursing School located on the civil hospital premises.

District officers, including block development and panchayat officer, child development officer, supervisors, nodal officers of high schools under school health programme, teachers, ANMs and students of the GNM schools, participated in the workshop.

District Family Welfare Officer Dr Ravanjit Kaur said all the diagnostic tests, from the time a woman conceives till the time of birth of a child, were conducted at the government hospitals. These tests include blood tests, urine tests, ultra sound, blood transfusion and child’s treatment from birth up to one year of age. She also informed about the family planning intra uterine device Copper T, which is inserted within 48 hours of delivery for a period of 10 years.

District Immunisation Officer Dr Rakesh Goyal informed about making India polio-free and taking initiatives in that direction. He said due to polio cases detected in neighbouring countries, India holds national pulse polio rounds and migratory polio rounds.

He also informed the participants about the immunisation schedule.

Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Kundan Pal said the ARSH programme was being run in the government hospitals at Ghudda, Talwandi Sabo, Rampura, women and children hospital on civil hospital premises.

He said around 50 per cent of the children were anaemic for which they were given folic acid tablet every Wednesday. Besides, the adolescent girls are given free sanitary napkins under the menstrual hygiene scheme.

Speaking at the event Civil Surgeon Dr Ajay Sahni laid emphasis on considering son and daughter as equal. He added that one should not even try to opt for sex determination test as it is a criminal offence that attracts three years of imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine. He asked the participants to ensure that no incident of people opting for sex selection of unborn foetus goes unchecked.

He also gave details of the Balri Rakshak Yojana wherein the parents of girl child, opting for permanent family planning methods, are given incentives. 

Bathinda, march 31
Members of various teachers’ and other government employees unions today staged a protest outside the treasury office. They also submitted a memorandum of demands to treasury officer Ashok Kumar Chopra.

While raising slogans against the government, the teachers stated that the government has to clear all the bills and salaries by March 31 but the several teachers and employees of other government departments are yet to be paid the salaries for four months, including March.

They also said if their salaries were not released by the midnight of March 31 then they would get the salaries only in August after the budget for the next financial year was cleared. They also threatened that if their salaries are not released they would boycott the election duties.

Mahinderpal of the Sarkari Siksha Bachao Manch stated that since the teachers have not received salaries for the past several months, they are having a tough time paying for the admission of their children for the new academic session. Other teachers argued that if the government has to pay them the salaries for eight months at once, the government should also pay them interest on the delayed salaries. 

Bathinda, March 31
Principal of the St Joseph's Convent School, has been summoned by the State Information Commission (SIC) to appear before it on May 6 for not providing information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

President of the Naujawan Welfare Society, Sonu Maheshwari, had submitted a query under the RTI Act seeking information regarding the admission procedure as per the Right To Education Act (2009). The principal however, sent a reply, stating that since the school was not a public authority, it did not fall in the purview of the RTI Act.

Irked by the school’s response, Maheshwari then complained against the principal at the State Information Commission accusing the school of withholding information on purpose. He also requested the Commission to take action against the school for not providing information under the RTI Act.

In his complaint, Maheshwari also mentioned the other cases registered against the school at the SIC under which the school had been asked to furnish the details and the school complied. Taking cognizance of the complaint, the principal of the school, Helen D’Costa has been summoned to appear before Commissioner BC Thakur on May 6.

While the principal of the school remained unavailable for comments, Maheshwari said, “In my RTI query, I had only sought the information from the school regarding the number of applications it received last year and this year and how many of them were given admission by the school. Apart from that I had asked the school to give in detail the criteria that it follows during admission procedure. Not only did the school principal refused to give details under the Act, she even returned my postal order.”

Bathinda, March 31
A student was caught impersonating another while he was appearing for the mathematics examination being conducted by the Punjab School Education Board for class X today. The incident came to light at the Mata Saheb Kaur Girls College centre.

While checking the identity cards of the students, the centre superintendent noticed that the identity card of one of the students didn’t bear his photograph.

After looking into the matter closely, it came to light that one Gurtej Singh was writing the exam for Gurmeet Singh. The matter has been registered with the PSEB.

Amritsar, March 31
The Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SGRDIMSR) run by the SGPC have extended the date of filing applications for admission to the MBBS and the BDS courses under Sikh minority quota to April 30. The earlier deadline for filing applications was April 21.

Joginder Singh, secretary, Sri Guru Ram Das Charitable Hospital Trust, said admission to the MBBS and the BDS courses would be done on the basis of the All-India PMT result.

He said candidates seeking admission under the Sikh Minority Quota would have to appear for a Sikh-religion history exam which would be conducted by the institute on May 8.

He said the candidates would have to obtain at least 17 marks out of the total 50 marks in Sikh religion history test to be eligible for consideration under the Sikh minority quota.

He said, “Though the candidates are required to qualify in the Sikh-religion history exam, the marks obtained in the test would not be added to the All-India PMT score.” 

Jalandhar, March 31
It was the day of booze lovers as they flocked to the liquor vends to buy discounted liquor. On account of the expiry of liquor vends' contract on March 31, wine contractors had announced a huge discount on liquor.

Meanwhile, there was a lackadaisical approach of the Excise Department in taking action against the tipplers who were flouting excise rules by carrying more liquor bottles than the prescribed limit. Although excise officials claimed that teams were formed to maintain a check on such violations, the violations were galore.

As per the excise officials, a person can only buy two to three bottles of liquor and if he violates the excise norms, the Excise Department can take legal action him.

When The Tribune team visited several wine shops in the city, it was noticed that due to the heavy discount on liquor, people were seen carrying more bottles than the prescribed limit. “I bought a full carton containing 12 liquor bottles and my order was handed over to me without mentioning any prescribed limit”

When this correspondent asked employees at liquor vends, situated on Sodal Road, if they were following the limit of selling liquor to booze lovers, he said, “Although there was a prescribed limit of selling liquor to a buyer, we were told by our owners to sell the maximum stock without paying heed to the prescribed limit,” he said.

Only those buyers are eligible to buy liquor more than the prescribed limit are having the L-50 licence.

Excise and Taxation Officer Sukhwinder said special teams were formed to check the violations but as of now, they didn’t find any person carrying liquor bottles more than the prescribed limit.